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During a recent episode of herpodcast with NBA star Myles Turner, Stewart provided an update about the current state of negotiations with the league. Stewart revealed that the players are "in a new place."

"I'm feeling better. I'm feeling like the owners are finally really acknowledging and being receptive of what we want and the players as well,"Stewart said.

"We all kind of had to put our business hats on and get into that mindset. I'm hoping we can get this thing done quickly so then we're not late [to start the2026 season]. That's the thing. It's like I've been telling them, is ― now that we're a part of a revenue-shared model, you miss games, it's less money. Not to say that we should submit and just say yes to any proposal that we don't like, but this is a business now. This is how businesses go."

In the league's latest proposal, the WNBA conceded team-provided housing, a person with knowledge of the matter told USA TODAY Sports. In the revised agreement, one-bedroom apartments will be available for players making the minimum salary. The two developmental players on each roster would be provided with studio apartments. The players' union also voiced setting a standard for team facilities that would be codified in the new CBA, the person with knowledge of the situation said.

Still, nothing has changed in terms of revenue sharing or player salaries. The WNBA is offering more than 70% of league and team net revenue. The players' union has asked for 30% of gross revenue. The salary cap would be $5.65 million per year, rising with league revenues.

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Game 1: Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray (12) celebrates with teammates after the Aces defeated the Phoenix Mercury, 89-86, at Michelob Ultra Arena.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Jackie Young #0 of the Las Vegas Aces battles for the ball with Alyssa Thomas #25 and Kahleah Copper #2 of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Chelsea Gray (12) and A'ja Wilson (22) of the Las Vegas Aces grab a rebound past DeWanna Bonner (14) and Satou Sabally (0) of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Alyssa Thomas (25) of the Phoenix Mercury shoots the ball against Jackie Young of the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Las Vegas Aces guard Jewell Loyd (24) looks to tip a loose ball away from Phoenix Mercury guard Sami Whitcomb (33).

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Las Vegas Aces forward NaLyssa Smith (3) shoots against Phoenix Mercury forward Natasha Mack (4).

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: A'ja Wilson (22) of the Las Vegas Aces celebrates after making a basket against the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Satou Sabally (0) of the Phoenix Mercury shoots the ball against Megan Gustafson (17) of the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Satou Sabally (0) of the Phoenix Mercury looks to shoot the ball against NaLyssa Smith (3) of the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: NaLyssa Smith (3) of the Las Vegas Aces reacts during the third quarter.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Chelsea Gray (12) of the Las Vegas Aces reacts against the Phoenix Mercury during the fourth quarter.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Alyssa Thomas (25) of the Phoenix Mercury drives to the basket against Jackie Young (0) of the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Alyssa Thomas (25) of the Phoenix Mercury shoots the ball against Jackie Young (0) of the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young (0) dribbles against Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper (2).

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Las Vegas Aces guard Jewell Loyd (24) drives against Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper (2).

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Kahleah Copper (2) of the Phoenix Mercury celebrates after her 3-point basket.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Head coach Nate Tibbetts of the Phoenix Mercury looks on during the first quarter.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Maddy Westbeld of the Chicago Sky (left) and Rae Burrell of the Los Angeles Sparks look on.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Jackie Young (0) of the Las Vegas Aces reacts in front of Kahleah Copper of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon looks on.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Dana Evans of the Las Vegas Aces, shoots the ball between Monique Akoa Makani and Natasha Mack of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces drives to the basket against Alyssa Thomas of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Kahleah Copper of the Phoenix Mercury grabs a rebound against the Las Vegas Aces.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: Chelsea Gray of the Las Vegas Aces shoots the ball against Monique Akoa Makani of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Game 1: A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces grabs a rebound against Kahleah Copper of the Phoenix Mercury.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

The best photos as Aces, Mercury meet in 2025 WNBA Finals

"We're now going to be a part of a revenue-sharing model, which is historic for the WNBA and really for the future to come, and now, it's kind of understanding that," Stewart said on her podcast.

"While it istiring and taxing, you want to be a part of it to make sure that it's for the better of the players, and also the league is going to continue and grow and thrive at such an important point. So you know what? We're not done. Hopefully, eventually, I'll be able to be like, 'Oh, my God, Myles. It's finished. It's over.' It's going to be incredible, but until then, we just keep trucking along."

Stewart's NBA co-host seemed to sympathise with the work that WNBA players are doing in the ongoing negotiations. Turner admitted that many NBA players are in the dark on the work that's been completed.

"I just think that you're fighting the good fight, and I don't think the guys on the NBA side truly see what's really going on the WNBA side," Turner said.

"We only hear headlines. We don't realize that you're on Zoom calls for four hours the day that you have games. We don't realize that you're spearheading these conversations as one of the faces of the league. If the shoe was on the other foot, I think it'd be a lot tougher. I think you're handling it really well."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Breanna Stewart gives positive update on WNBA CBA negotiations

"This is it! After 21 years I'm stepping away from basketball," Paul wrote in the social-media post. "As I write this, it's hard to really know what to feel, but for once — most people would be surprised — I don't have the answer lol! But, mostly I'm filled with so much joy and gratitude!

"While this chapter of being an 'NBA player' is done, the game of basketball will forever be engrained in the DNA of my life."

The fourth overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft out of Wake Forest, Paul ranks second on the NBA's all-time assist list — his 12,552 assists trail only John Stockton's 15,806. He is also second behind Stockton in steals. He leaves as a 12-time All-Star, 11-time All-NBA point guard, five-time single-season assists leader, nine-time All-Defense selection and a member of the NBA's 75th anniversary team.

For his career, Paul averaged 16.8 points, 9.2 assists and 4.4 rebounds. He was also a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. men's national team. His next stop will be the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Paul and the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James are the only players with at least 20,000 points and 10,000 assists in their careers.

"Playing basketball for a living has been an unbelievable blessing that came with lots of responsibility," Paul also said in his Instagram post. "I embraced it all. The good and the bad. As a lifelong learner, leadership is hard and is not for the weak. Some will like you and many people won't. But the goal was always the goal, and my intentions were always sincere (Damn, I love competing!!)"

Paul had previously announced this would be his final season, a farewell tour of sorts, after he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in the offseason. The Clippers struggled to a 5-16 start and then sent him home from a roadtrip on Dec. 3, saying they planned to part ways with him after he reportedly clashedClippers head coach Tyronn Lue and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank.

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The Clippers kept Paul on the roster until trading him to the Toronto Raptors at the trade deadline earlier this month. There was never an expectation Paul would play for the Raptors, and the team waived him on Friday shortly before his retirement announcement.

The final game of Paul's career was a 140-123 loss to the Miami Heat on Dec. 1 in which he had eight points and three assists in 14 minutes. He averaged a career-low 2.9 points, 3.3 assists and 1.8 rebounds in 16 games with the Clippers this season.

This was Paul's second stint with the Clippers. He also played for the San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets after beginning his career with the New Orleans Hornets.

Last season with the Spurs, Paul was the oldest player in NBA history to start all 82 games. It was only the second time in his career Paul played all 82. He finished his career having played in 1,370 regular-season games and 149 playoff games.

Despite Paul's success and longevity, he never won an NBA championship. Untimely injuries sometimes limited his advancement in the playoffs, including in 2018 when he missed the last two games of the Western Conference finals as the Warriors beat his Rockets. He reached the NBA Finals for the first time in 2021 with the Suns and took a 2-0 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks only to lose the next four games.

NEED TO KNOW

• The college baseball player killed in Wednesday's bus crash in Iowa has been identified as 19-year-old Carter Johnson from South Dakota

• The bus carrying more than two dozen athletes and staff members from Iowa Lakes Community College crashed while it was en route to Arkansas

• Teammates performed CPR on Johnson but he died at the scene, police said

An Iowa college baseball team is "heartbroken" this week as it mourns a 19-year-old freshman who died afterthe team's bus crashedon the way to a series of games this weekend in Arkansas.

Iowa Lakes Community College announced Carter Johnson died in the crash Wednesday morning, according to local affiliatesKCRGandKHAK.

"Carter was a great teammate, a friend, and a valued member of our athletic community," Iowa Lakes Community College's athletic director Troy Larson said in a statement, according to KCRG. "We're heartbroken for this tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with Carter's family, we cannot imagine the depth of their loss, and we are holding them close in our hearts."

Johnson was a freshman from South Dakota, according to the outlet.

The crash, which also injured the other 32 passengers aboard the team's bus, happened on Highway 4 near Twin Lakes just after 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 11, the Iowa State Patrol (ISP) confirmed in apress release.

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Citing police, KCRG reported that the team's 74-year-old bus driver veered off the road and crashed when he overcorrected while trying to get back in the lane, rolling the bus over into a ditch along the highway. Two of the passengers were reportedly ejected from the bus and trapped under the bus when it came to a stop. A van carrying other student-athletes that was traveling behind the team's bus stopped, and the classmates attempted to perform CPR on Johnson, who died at the scene, according to the outlet.

Images from the scene showed the Iowa Lakes Community College baseball team's bus overturned on its side with visible damage to the front as it lay in a ditch before eventually being towed away.

KCCI/youtube

At the time of the deadly crash, the baseball team was on their way to play North Arkansas College in Harrison, Ark., the Northark Pioneers confirmed in aFacebook post.

"Our hearts are heavy as we grieve alongside the Iowa Lakes College community," Dr. Rick Massengale, North Arkansas College president, said in a statement. "The loss of a life is a tragedy that reaches far beyond one campus."

Read the original article onPeople

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was expected to plead not guilty on Friday to charges connected to his coverage of protests over federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota.

Lemon, now a freelance journalist, followed protesters who entered a St. Paul church on Jan. 18. He live streamed the demonstration against a pastor there who protesters said works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Lemon, 59,was arrested on Jan. 30, in a federal prosecution that's drawn criticism from news media and free speech advocates. A federal grand jury returned theindictmentagainst him and eight co-defendants connected to that church protest.

Attorney General Pam Bondicalled the church protesta "coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota."

Lemon was charged with conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and injuring, intimidating and interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom at a place of worship.

The National Association of Black Journalists said the arrest of Lemon and fellow freelancer Georgia Fort are part of "the government's escalating effort and actions to criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement."

"A government that responds to scrutiny by targeting the messenger is not protecting the public, it is attempting to intimidate it, and considering recent incidents regarding federal agents, it is attempting to distract it,"according to an NABJ statement.

Harmeet Dhillon, the Trump administration's top civil rights official in the Justice Department, said that there's no precedent for using statutes to protect worshippers against journalists covering an event.

"In all these years up until I was the assistant attorney general for civil rights, nobody ever used that houses of worship part to prosecute protesters or criminals blocking access to a house of worship, so we've started to do that,"Dhillon has said.

Border Patrol and ICE agents have carried out raids in and around Minneapolis, leading to mass protests around the region.Border "czar" Tom Homansaid Thursday that the immigration enfrocement operation there would end.

Federal authorities fatally shotMinneapolis residentsAlex Pretti, 37,andRenee Good, 37,during these clashes.

Good appeared to be drivingaway from federal agents on Jan. 7 when she was fatally shot, while Pretti, a nurse who worked with veterans,was helping a womanwho'd been shoved to the ground when he was killed on Jan. 24.

TheTrump administrationlabeled both U.S. citizens as"domestic terrorists"with no immediate evidence the shooting victims had sought to harm federal agents when they were shot at close range.

Before taking office, Trump had complained about what he described as the weaponization of federal authority against political enemies.

Trump's Department of Justice created a "Weaponization Working Group"meant to root out "abuses of the criminal justice process" by federal law enforcement.

The Trump administration has been scrambling to issue a report when the working group's leader Ed Martin,who took over inMay,was removed from his earlier this monthwith no public explanation.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Selina Guevara reported from St. Paul, Minnesota, and David K. Li from Los Angeles.

Once you've had a car for a decade, you might figure that it would no longer be part of a recall. But that's not the case for hundreds of thousands of older model cars after Stellantis, the maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, issued a "do not drive" warning. The issue stems from the Takata airbag recall, which lots of people still haven't gotten fixed. Here's what you need to know about the Stellantis warning.

What's the Takata Airbag Issue?

Japanese parts supplier Takata began manufacturing airbags with an explosive flaw in the early 2000s. Over time, the chemical propellant inside the airbag can degrade, which can lead to the airbag rupturing when it's deployed and sending metal fragments into the car, injuring anyone inside. So far, there have been 28 deaths associated with the defective Takata airbags,according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, along with hundreds of injuries.

In total, 67 million vehicles have been recalled in the U.S. for defective Takata airbags over the last decade. It's the largest ever such recall in U.S. history, according to Reuters.

Which Vehicles Are Affected?

This week, Stellantis issued a new "do not drive" warning related to the Takata airbag recall. Though tens of millions of airbags have been replaced by various car makers, there are at least 225,000 Stellantis vehicles that have not been repaired.

"This action is intended to accelerate the repair of the remaining affected vehicles to safeguard owners, their families and the general public from the risk of serious injury or death," the car maker said in a statement.

Stellantis has performed repairs on about 95% of its recalled vehicles, which amounts to about 6.6 million cars.

These are the vehicles that are included in Stellantis' "do not drive" warning:

• 2003 to 2016 Dodge Ram and Dodge Sprinter

• 2004 to 2009 Dodge Durango

• 2005 to 2012 Dodge Dakota

• 2005 to 2008 Dodge Magnum

• 2006 to 2015 Dodge Charger

• 2008 to 2014 Dodge Challenger

• 2007 to 2009 Chrysler Aspen

• 2007 to 2008 Chrysler Crossfire

• 2005 to 2015 Chrysler 300

• 2007 to 2016 Jeep Wrangler

If you have any of these vehicles but you have not gotten its Takata airbags fixed (or if you do not know), you should stop driving the car until you do. You can take it to a Stellantis dealership where they will complete the repairs free of charge.

You can check your car's recall status by calling 833-585-0144 or by entering its VIN on theNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration's recall status website.

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Nikita and his wife, Oksana, fled Russia in desperation two years ago, believing America was their only hope of giving their three children a life free of fear and oppression.

Instead, those children are growing up behind the razor-wire fences of a South Texas detention center, among hundreds of other families swept up in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

Over their four months at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center — aremote, prisonlike facilitythat has drawn mounting scrutiny over what human rights advocatesdescribe as inhumane conditions— Nikita and Oksana say their children have endured indignities they never imagined possible in the United States.

Worms in their food. Guards shouting orders and snatching toys from small hands. Restless nights under fluorescent lights that never fully go dark. Hours in line for a single pill.

"We left one tyranny and came to another kind of tyranny," Nikita said in Russian. "Even in Russia, they don't treat children like this."

NBC News spoke with the family over Zoom this week and reviewed their lawyer's request for their release, as well as dozens of pages of medical records. For an hour and a half on the video call, Nikita, an engineer, and Oksana, a nurse, described how their months at Dilley have worn down their children — physically, emotionally and academically. Their two oldest sat behind them in a drab conference room, doodling or staring blankly at the screen. The preschooler wandered the room, swinging a thin plastic rod from a set of window blinds like a toy sword.

The couple asked to be identified only by their first names because they fear retaliation if deported back to Russia, where Nikita says he spoke out against President Vladimir Putin's regime.

Their story offers a glimpse of what children are enduring in prolonged confinement as the Trump administration expands family detention.

Kirill, 13, who once taught himself to play piano and attended music school, spends most days withdrawn, waking at night with anxiety and panic attacks, his parents said.

Konstantin, 4, a sociable boy, is often frightened by loud noises and guards, his parents said. He once cried for hours after a small toy airplane was confiscated.

Kamilla, 12 — a dancer who loved to perform — now has partial hearing loss in one ear after what her parents say was a poorly treated infection. For weeks, she counted down the days until her birthday, telling NBC News she had only one wish.

"To get out of here," she said.

On Monday, the family's attorney, Elora Mukherjee, filed a request for their immediate release on medical grounds. In the letter, Mukherjee, a Columbia Law School professor and director of its Immigrants' Rights Clinic, wrote that the children had been detained for more than 120 days, more than six times the 20-day limit set in afederal court agreement governing the detention of minors. She argued that their health has deteriorated as a result.

"Kamilla should not be spending her birthday in prison," Mukherjee said. "She has done nothing wrong."

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security defended holding the family while their asylum case is pending. It said the Dilley facility "is retrofitted for families" to ensure children's well-being and accused the media of "peddling hoaxes" about poor conditions in immigrant detention centers.

"The Trump administration is not going to ignore the rule of law or release unvetted illegal aliens into the country," the statement said. "All of their claims will be heard by an immigration judge and they will receive full due process."

CoreCivic, the company that operates Dilley under a federal contract, has deferred questions about the facility to DHS and said in statements that the health and safety of detainees is its top priority.

The family's detention comes as Trump immigration officials revive and expand large-scale family confinement. Past presidents used family detention in limited circumstances, and the Biden administration largely halted the practice, releasing most asylum-seeking families while their cases moved forward. Under Trump, authorities are sending families to Dilley in significant numbers and reportedly holding them for weeks or months.

The facility drew widespread national attention last month after a photograph of5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, wearing a blue bunny hat as he was led away by officers, spread online, renewing concerns about conditions inside Dilley. Since last spring, lawyers and advocates have complained of inadequate medical care, contaminated food and minimal schooling for children held there.

DHS has said family detention is necessary to keep families together while it works to deport them.

Nikita and Oksana's journey to Dilley began in October. After fleeing Russia in 2024 and spending more than a year in Mexico trying to determine the best path to safety in the U.S., Nikita drove his family to the Otay Mesa port of entry and requested asylum, telling an agent that his activism against the Russian government had put them at risk. An asylum officer later found the family had a credible fear of persecution, according to Mukherjee. But rather than being released into the U.S. while their case moved forward, they were taken into custody.

After five days in frigid federal holding cells — where the family says the children slept under foil blankets on thin mats — they were transferred to Dilley, expecting to wait there for a couple weeks at most.

Their plight reflects what advocates describe as an impossible choice facing many Russian asylum-seekers. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, anti-war activists, online critics and military draft resisters fled the country by the tens of thousands, fearing imprisonment or worse. With Europe largely closed to Russian nationals, many turned to the U.S. southern border as one of the few remaining paths to protection, believing America would be "a safe harbor for those who strive for freedom and democracy," said Dmitry Valuev, president of Russian America for Democracy in Russia, a group that has advocated for Russians trapped in U.S. immigration centers.

Instead, Valuev said, some now find themselves detained indefinitely.

"And they don't understand what for, because they are not criminals," Valuev said. "They came to the United States to contribute to society, to their new home. They don't want to become illegal immigrants. They want to obey the law."

Inside Dilley, Nikita and Oksana said, the days blur together.

They wake at 6 a.m. for morning routines and breakfast. After that, there is little to do. Time is measured in lines — lines for food, the medical window and the library.

The children compete for markers. Each child can have only two at a time, the couple said, and parents must show their IDs to borrow them. While one child draws, others must wait. In the library, they said, there are only four children's books in Russian: "The Wizard of the Emerald City," "Alice in Wonderland," "Pushkin's Fairy Tales" and poems by Korney Chukovsky. With that limited selection and little education beyond word searches, the children have effectively stopped reading.

If adults or children manage to get computer time, it is tightly restricted. Most websites are blocked. Email is limited. News is often inaccessible. YouTube has been banned.

When someone falls ill, the daily routine can become grueling. Nikita and Oksana described standing outside for hours — sometimes in rain, wind or cold — waiting for a worker to dispense medicine. Before leaving, they said, children are required to open their mouths so staff can confirm the medication has been swallowed.

"This place is not intended for the prolonged stay of children," Oksana said.

Nikita nodded.

"Every day you think it could not be worse," he said. "And then the next day something else happens."

Food is among the biggest struggles, they said, echoing complaints registered in dozens of sworn declarations filed in federal court on behalf of detained parents and children.

Meals are greasy, spicy and repetitive, the couple said — the same limited options for adults and children alike. The couple described finding mold and worms in vegetables. After one such incident, they said, several children vomited.

On Nov. 16, a mental health counselor recorded in Kamilla's medical records that her mother reported the girl had lost her appetite after being "served food that contained worms."

A week later, the couple said, children were told to gather in the gym for what they believed would be a Thanksgiving celebration. Excitement spread as families saw tables set with turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, they said. The children waited expectantly. But when a parent asked when the celebration would begin, Oksana said, staff told them the holiday meal was for employees, not detainees.

The children, she said, watched despondently as the feast was packed away.

DHS didn't comment on the alleged incident but said in the statement that dieticians evaluate meals served at Dilley to ensure quality.

Sometimes workers make light of their misery, Nikita said. He recalled showing an officer a piece of moldy cabbage. The guard, he said, put it in his mouth and declared it fine — before gagging and spitting it out.

Another time, when Nikita asked why his family was being held beyond the 20-day limit, he said a guard told him the long-standing federal settlement setting minimum standards for detaining immigrant children had been overturned. Only later did he learn that wasn't true.

"In Russia, police tell us, 'We are the law, as we say goes,'" Nikita said. "We came here, and they tell us exactly the same thing."

Kamilla's earache and hearing troubles have been among their biggest concerns.

The girl had a history of right ear blockages and infections, Oksana reported, but inside Dilley, she said, it was far harder to treat. In November, she brought Kamilla to the medical room complaining of discomfort and fever. The pain worsened at night and her daughter's ear eventually began oozing pus, Oksana said. She said they returned again and again to the medical room, seeking help.

Some of those visits are documented in medical records provided to the family and reviewed by NBC News. The forms, which at times identify Kamilla as an "inmate," note redness and irritation in her right ear and prescriptions for drops and antibiotics. But Oksana said the records are incomplete and omit numerous visits as she requested specialized care but only saw nurses and nurse practitioners.

The girl's pain persisted for weeks, she said.

Her recovery was complicated by the routine obstacles that govern all aspects of life at Dilley. When Kamilla's earache flared or fever spiked, her mother said, they had to wait outside for hours in the "pill line" for her medicine.

After Oksana cut the top off an undersized beanie to fashion a headband to shield her daughter's inflamed ear from the biting wind, she said workers repeatedly removed it, calling it prohibited contraband. Each time, Kamilla cried.

During one medical visit, on Dec. 15, Oksana said she pleaded with a nurse to grant her daughter special permission to wear the modified beanie. The nurse said the makeshift headband was not permitted "for safety reasons," the records show, and instead offered to prescribe more ear drops and a steroid.

Frustrated and unwilling to continue waiting in the outdoor line for each dose of medicine, Oksana said she refused the treatment. The family eventually stopped visiting the clinic altogether, she said, instead treating Kamilla's pain with ibuprofen purchased at the commissary.

The earache has faded, Oksana said. The partial hearing loss remains.

In a statement, DHS noted the medications provided to Kamilla and her mother's refusal of additional medicines. The agency said it provides "comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody."

As her parents spoke over Zoom on Wednesday, Kamilla sat behind them, quietly drawing. She was sketching herself near the lone tree that stands on the detention center's grounds, butterflies fluttering around it — one of the few places, her mother said, where children sometimes see something alive and colorful.

The next day would be her 12th birthday.

There would be no cake. No presents. No party with friends.

Instead, on their 131st day in federal custody, her parents planned to buy her a pack of M&Ms — among the only sweets available — and pray that their daughter's birthday wish for freedom might come true.

WASHINGTON — President Trump issued pardons Thursday to five former football stars — including Jets Hall of Famer Joe Klecko — who were convicted of federal drug crimes, perjury, and counterfeiting offenses.

"As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation," White House pardon czarAlice Marie Johnson wrote on Xin announcing the clemencies.

Defensive tackle Klecko, 72, who spent 11 of his 12 pro seasons with the Jets, was pardoned for perjury in an insurance fraud case, for which he was sentenced to three months in prison in 1993.

Offensive guard Nate Newton, 64, best known for his 13 years with the Dallas Cowboys, received clemency for his drug trafficking conviction after he was busted with nearly 400 pounds of marijuana in two separate traffic stops in 2001.

Johnson said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones "personally" shared the news with Newton, who won three Super Bowls with America's Team in the 1990s.

Another Super Bowl champion, former Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, was pardoned after pleading guilty in 2004 to using a cell phone to facilitate a cocaine deal.

Travis Henry, 47, formerly of the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos, was pardoned of his cocaine-trafficking conviction, while the late Billy Cannon — a Heisman Trophy winner at LSU who went on to play for the Houston Oilers, Oakland Raiders, and Kansas City Chiefs — received posthumous clemency after serving two-and-a-half years in jail for printing $6 million in phony $100 bills in the 1980s.

Johnson, who Trump freed from prison during his first term and then pardoned of drug charges at the recommendation of Kim Kardashian, thanked Trump for his "continued commitment to second chances."

Johnson is paid $145,000 as a White House employee to find Trump cases of apparent injustice — bypassing the historically slow pardon process through the Justice Department.

Trump last year installed hard-charging loyalist Ed Martin as his pardon attorney to supplement Johnson as he makes unconventional use of his clemency powers during his second term.